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28 Jul 09 - 07:46 AM (#2688667) Subject: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: GUEST,Mike Since the 60's (I suppose like many other folkies) I have been buying Folk Records, Tapes, CD's, DVD's, Videos, Books, Magazines and have accumulated a considerable amount. With no one to leave them to and not wanting them to be thrown out on the local tip by my descendents, what does one do with them where they will be most appreciated (other than the local charity shop). |
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28 Jul 09 - 07:57 AM (#2688678) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: PatMcGee Hi Mike, Are you anywhere near the DC area? A couple of really good collections have ended up at Dave Eisner's store (House of Music Traditions), where the local folkies go wild over them. (The first one I saw to pick over was Harry Remmers. (spelling?) I got some really neat stuff.) From a couple of things you say, I'd guess you were somewhere in the British Isles. If so, I'm suggest it even more strongly. We'd love to have some of that stuff show up over here. Pat |
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28 Jul 09 - 08:32 AM (#2688693) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: GUEST,Mike Hi Pat, I am based in England but, whilst I hope I have a good few years left and do not want to part with my collection yet, a lot of my contempories have gone, what has happened to their collections. My collection covers the usual early Baez, Dylan, Seeger, Paxton, Guthrie (including 2 double LPs of the 1964 Tribute Concert that took place), Steeleye Span and many lesser known folk artistes - the list is endless (about 600 LP's)and then I have the CD's etc etc. Is there anywhere to leave them too?? |
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28 Jul 09 - 08:36 AM (#2688696) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: johnadams In the UK I think commercial recordings and books are already covered by the British Library Collections but I'm not sure how comprehensive their archiving is. When Sid Long died, his record collection was donated to the Folk Music Degree library at Newcastle University. It depends how distinctive your (one's) collection is. The Keith Summers collection was taken over by Fred McCormick but that was a particularly important collection. As Pat suggests, it might be nice to have 'clearing house' where stuff might be recycled to like minded people. |
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28 Jul 09 - 08:40 AM (#2688698) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: Leadfingers You COULD ask C#House if they are interested ! We have had Clearance Sales at Maidenhead , Surplus records and such , either free , or for a small donationto Club funds |
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28 Jul 09 - 08:51 AM (#2688702) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: johnadams Leadfingers wrote: You COULD ask C#House if they are interested ! I can confidently predict that they are not. I have several albums from the VWML on my shelves, taken from a big box marked 'Help Yourself!'. There is not the storage space to deal with commercial recordings archiving except where it is particularly important. It's also a problem for the Doc Rowe archive which regularly gets offered record collections. |
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28 Jul 09 - 08:55 AM (#2688706) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: Leadfingers I thought that MIGHT be the case ! |
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28 Jul 09 - 10:54 AM (#2688764) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: SteveMansfield At the Gower Festival a couple of years ago, someone had donated a collection of CDs and LPs to the festival, and it was sold off from a table-top with all proceeds going to fund the festival. I got some interesting stuff from that, I'm sure a lot of other people did likewise, and the Gower Festival got a bit of money out of the enterprise - result all round I'd have said! |
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28 Jul 09 - 10:57 AM (#2688766) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser) I suppose it depends how rare the collection is. At the risk of offending people (again) there's quite an amusing article by Boris Johnson in yesterday's 'Torygraph': http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/borisjohnson/5914680/Like-the-Pharaohs-were-getting-buried-by-our-own-possessions. (Have I done that right?) |
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28 Jul 09 - 11:02 AM (#2688769) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: PatMcGee Hi Mike, More details: What has happened is that Dave Eisner makes a deal with the heirs. He bought the collection, and then sold it piecemeal through his store. This has several benefits. First, the heirs get something, probably more than from anyone who isn't really knowledgeable about this stuff. Second, the stuff stays within the music community, not sent off to either the dumpster or to people who won't appreciate it. Third, the people in the music community can find things that they really like that aren't available any other way. (Oh, yeah, Dave makes something, too.) I've got a note put in the same place as my will. My heirs can take anything they want. Everything else goes to Dave to get sold. I don't know whether Dave would be interested in stuff from the British Isles, but I'd sure hope so. I also don't know of any similar stores across the pond that could sell it well. Pat Pat |
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28 Jul 09 - 12:09 PM (#2688821) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: GUEST,Derek Schofield To clarify what John Adams wrote, the VWML has a large collection of commercial recordings of folk music and that gets added to weekly by donation (usually) from artists and record companies. I think what John will have "helped himself" to will be donations of LPs and perhaps CDs that are duplicates to the existing collection. Often these duplicates are sold or doinations are requested, which of course gives the VWML more funds with which to add to the collections - books, CDs, DVDs etc,. Derek Schofield |
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28 Jul 09 - 03:52 PM (#2689016) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: Tootler You could always make use of freecycle |
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28 Jul 09 - 04:36 PM (#2689053) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: Steve Gardham Whenever I'm down in the VWML I try to make time to have a rifle through these 2-3 boxes and have found some little gems in there in the past. This works very well with just a couple of boxes but there simply isn't enough room in the library for large collections to be sold. Somwhere else in the building would have to take this on if there was a lot of material donated. The foyer?? or would it make it look cluttered? I like the idea of them being sold off at festivals to help festival funds. Most of the larger festivals have a market and such material could be priced and left on trust on an unmanned stall. |
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28 Jul 09 - 04:46 PM (#2689062) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: beardedbruce I plan to donate mine to the FSGW Getaway scholarship fund- that keeps it in interested hands, and supports a worthy cause. Anything deemed rare can go to wherever the Fund decides. |
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28 Jul 09 - 04:47 PM (#2689064) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: VirginiaTam I like the donating to festival idea. Another thought - Can you leave them for Mudcat auction? Would you leave them to Mudcat? It would require a volunteer catter to administrate. |
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28 Jul 09 - 04:57 PM (#2689079) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: oggie My collection is being left to the local hospice with instructions as to which are charity shop fare and which are worth more. They are used to handling this and have connections with various second hand record outlets. Steve |
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29 Jul 09 - 03:06 AM (#2689387) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: GUEST,Mike I like the Festival donation idea, or perhaps having my heirs (who unfortunately have not my love of the folk world) take them around to the local Folk Clubs and there to tell the regulars to help themselves. At least that way my records etc. will be in the hands of those who will enjoy them has much has I have done (I hope) |
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29 Jul 09 - 03:19 AM (#2689393) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies) Couldn't Mudcat host a folkie "Freecycle Thread" on behalf of all/any members wishing to swap or donate items amongst each other? |
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29 Jul 09 - 08:19 PM (#2690020) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: Artful Codger There is an analogue in the book world of what you're proposing: check out BookCrossing.com. In cities across the nation, there are small repositories where people donate books they no longer need, labelled as a BookCrossing book. Other people are encouraged to take the books, read them, then release them back into the wild (along with their own extras). But I wish that each city had places that were oriented toward preservation of historical materials like these, accessible (at the most modest of costs) to the public. Sadly, public libraries, which onced served this sort of function, now only focus on popular pap. And the media are so fragile (and patrons so cavalier) that recordings seldom have a long shelf life. Copyright laws (the bane of the folk world) prevent libraries and museums from making public use copies from carefully preserved masters. It's sad that, with so much technology available to us, we're doing such a dreadful job of preserving our heritage and making it widely available. |
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29 Jul 09 - 10:26 PM (#2690079) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: WFDU - Ron Olesko I realized this is a UK posting, but if anyone in the U.S. is exploring the options - consider a local radio station that offers folk music. Many stations do not have substantial recordings of older albums - or their own copies are so scratched they are unplayable. My own radio station benefited from similar donations when we began broadcasting traditional music. The recordigns were well respected and I think there is some comfort in knowing the music is being shared by future generations. |
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29 Jul 09 - 10:33 PM (#2690082) Subject: RE: Folk Music Collections (after death) From: katlaughing That's just what I was going to say, Ron. Our local community radio station is open to donations. I don't have any kind of significant collection, but whatever my family doesn't want will go to various friends. Crow Sister, that's a neat idea. We have had members who've started threads about LPs, CDs, and tapes they are willing to send to a good home, but never an actual dedicated thread for that. kat |